


trees

by Hevheia



Series: The Old Guard Duolingo Prompts [17]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Bonding, Gen, Joe is Bob Ross, Painting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29902110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hevheia/pseuds/Hevheia
Summary: On their days off, Nile and Joe like to go painting outside.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nile Freeman
Series: The Old Guard Duolingo Prompts [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952467
Kudos: 30





	trees

**Author's Note:**

> This one (and a lot to come) was written as a prompt fill on tumblr to celebrate my one year streak on Duolingo, and I'm glad it made me write something for a rarer dynamic too! (A huge thank you to Neon for that who sent me the prompt!!)
> 
> Prompt: Do you not like trees? (Magst du Bäume nicht?)

“You have everything with you?” Nicky asks when Joe and Nile are about to leave the safehouse. 

“Of course, habibi.”

“The good watercolors? Paper tape?”

“Got them right here in my bag,” Nile reassures him. 

“Lunch?”

At this, Nile and Joe share a glance and Nicky chuckles before procuring two neat lunch bags. He really knows them too well. 

Joe takes them from him with a kiss to his cheek. 

“What would I do without you? See you tonight, babe,” he says and then turns around again to open the door. He winks at Nile. “After you, my lady.”

“Well thank you, m’lord,” Nile says with a laugh and steps outside with a courteous nod.

“Have fun!” she hears Nicky call after them right before Joe closes the door.

It’s a nice spring day. The sun is shining generously in between a few thin clouds, and birds are singing their songs from their hiding places. Perfect for painting some extensive landscapes.

“So where are we going today?" 

They’ve done these kind of trips whenever they grant themselves some time off. They either visit museums to study other works of art, go for a coffee in a quaint cafe to do some artistically justified people watching, or wander outside until they’ve found an interesting landscape or building or whatever else catches their eye.

Nile suspects the latter will be the case today. So she’s a little surprised when Joe says ‘you’ll see’ because she didn’t expect him to have a plan.

She hates it when people are keeping secrets from her, but all her attempts to find out their destination are easily dodged by Joe. If his smug grin is anything to go by, Nile’s frustration-fuelled curiosity is exactly the reason why he isn’t telling her.

She’s so busy planning on how to get him to talk that she doesn’t even notice they have arrived until Joe stops in the middle of a forest and starts preparing everything.

"The forest?” Nile asks, looking around. She’d hoped for something a tad more exciting after all Joe’s secrecy.

Her disappointment must have shown, because Joe laughs.

“What, do you not like trees?”

“I do,” Nile says, taking her own stuff out now too. “I just don’t like drawing them.”

Joe eyes her for a moment, but doesn’t say anything. 

Soon, they’re all settled and busy. Joe is sketching the canopy above them in his sketchbook. He barely takes his eyes from the leaves to look at the paper in his lap, but somehow he still manages to draw a masterpiece. 

_Show-off_ , Nile silently scoffs because she has been painstakingly attempting to paint some trees for what feels like hours and they still look like a toddler scribbled them.

“Why don’t you like drawing trees?”

With a start, Nile glances back at Joe who’s still studying the foliage. 

She shrugs. “Too many damn leaves. I never get them right.”

And as if to prove her words, her hand fucks up yet another one. She jumps up and paces a couple of steps away, clenching the paintbrush in her hand to keep herself from throwing it to the other side of the forest.

“I’m done with this. I’ll just go for a walk or something.”

“Since when are you one to give up?” Joe asks, not unkind. “Come, let’s see what you’ve got.”

With that, he closes his sketchbook with his flawless leaves and branches, and scoots his folding chair closer to hers to take a better look at her easel. 

“Ah, I see,” he says and doesn’t wait for Nile to return to her seat before pointing out some things and giving her tips on colors and technique.

Nile sits back down and, guided by Joe’s gentle instructions, starts anew. After a while, he only offers some suggestions here or there, until he doesn’t have to say anything at all anymore.

And suddenly there are beautiful, actual tree-like trees on her canvas. She stares at them, wondering if it really was her who painted them while also thinking how she ever thought trees were hard. 

“Thank you,” she says.

“Of course.” His voice is as soft as the sunshine filtering through the foliage. “We all need a push in the right direction sometimes. We don’t have to figure everything out on our own.”

Nile turns her head to Joe. His confident, relaxed smile makes her chest glow with gratitude. She nods and smiles back.

He rips a page from his sketchbook and hands it to her before moving his chair away again.

She looks down at it. It’s a sketch of her painting the trees. She hadn’t even noticed him drawing it. In the bottom right corner below his signature, his elegant handwriting says, _Nile learns to appreciate trees - 2032 AD._


End file.
